semi-OT: any ex-smokers here?

[maisiedotes]

After we lost our son I started smoking again. I liked smoking. I know it was bad for me. I smoked until I got pregnant this time (about 3 packs a week). I knew it was best for the baby but if I wasn't pregnant I would not have quit. I hate to admit this but I crave them quite a bit and I am afraid I might go back to it. I know I will totally get flamed for this, but I enjoyed it. I guess I don't know what I am asking here.... is anyone else thinking they may want to go back so smoking? I assume it is bad if you are breastfeeding but I would totally love to have one occasionally. :

[AimeeandBrian]

I smoked, but it was only a bar thing, so only like 2 a month and an occasional cigar. (Cigars are DH's hobby. Not really smoking them, but collecting and tending to his humidor)

I have been mourning not going to shisha bars again for many years. It's one of my favourite things.

[De-lovely]

I am an ex-smoker. I smoked for 10 years or so....I quit right before I got preggo with my first DD 4.5 years ago cold turkey. I still want one occasionally. I smoked again last year during a period when dh and I split....it lasted about 4 packs before my chest started to hurt and I kept having to throw them out when the kids would come outside. I wont be doing it anymore but I can understand enjoying it totally. It was really stress relieving for me.

[mittendrin]

I smoked before I got pregnant w ds1 and quit the day I found out w/o problems. Never had any cravings at all until way after ds2 when I started going back to work and stress hit me more than ever. I felt my marriage going down the drain and one night out with the people from work I said "screw it, I want one, I'm gonna have one" Dh smelled it when I came home and freaked out on me (he quit with me before ds1 was born). I thought I could stop after those couple of ciggies that night but couldn't anymore. I kept it secret from dh and still feel bad about it. I smoked about 1-2 packs a week, at work, at night when everyone was asleep and when the kids took their nap during the day. This went on from last year Oct til I found out I am pregnant again.I am not sure if dh knew, he never mentioned anything and I was anal about brushing teeth and washing hands, changing clothes and stuff.
Weird thing is that I have cravings now, it was harder to quit when I got pregnant this time from 1-2 packs a week where the first time I got pregnant I happily quit from almost a pack a day.
I know that if dh was ok with it I would go back to smoking after this pregnancy. The only thing that's holding me back is that our marriage has improved so much within the last year that I don't want to have secrets from him and would feel terrible hiding this from him.

[Da WIC Lady]

I smoked for about 10 years and was going through a slower period of smoking before I found out I was pregnant anyway, so just quitting all together was easy. There have been times I've really wanted one, but nobody would let me bum one since I am breastfeeding. It's strange, nobody cares if I have a sip of wine, but freaks the flip out if I hint I want a cigarette. I doubt I'll go back. I have a lot less seasonal allergies as a non-smoker, and with an asthmatic kid in the house, it's not worth it.

Anna

[pixiesmommy]

Me. I stopped when I got pregnant with Pixie and the smell of cigarette was a morning sickness trigger during my pregnancy with her AND with this pregnancy. I smoked a little... ahem... of something else... once while I was pregnant with her before I found out. Maybe that is why she's so nutty (just kidding!!!)

Maybe you could find cigarettes that are more natural if you want to go back to it after baby is born? I know they exist... I guess you would have to google and research quite a bit and then try them. They're probably expensive and I bet some of them taste really nasty too.

I used to occasionally smoke clove cigarettes when we would go out to bars, and they are soooo yummy. I still crave them from time to time, esp when I have a drink. They make your lips taste like clove too. I hear they are like 10 times as bad for you as even a menthol cig though. Oh well.

[Grace24]

Oh, yes, ex-smoker here too. I occasionally want one but it's few and far between... the hassle of being a smoker is not worth it. (the stink, the lung pain, the cough which got worse as I got older... and I'm only in my 30's... and no-one wants to be around you!)

I have quit many times...it's weird, I just had a dream that I was discussing this with someone... and it got harder and harder to quit. So if it was easy this time it doesn't mean it will be next time.

I would never flame you for missing smoking and wanting to go back to it honey! You did the right thing by quitting during pregnancy but I would encourage you to fight the urge to return to it. What about YOUR health... and second hand smoke for the baby, (even if you say you won't smoke around the baby there may come a time, as you become more and more dependent on it, that you may slip "just this once"...), living a longer life for your family (my DH lost his mom ten years ago to cancer and it was devastating.

Here's what helps me not want to smoke... anything that cleans out my system, like yoga (especially Bikram... something about the heat steams my lungs clean or something) and any kind of cardiovascular activity. And the longer I was quit for, the easier it got.

So if you quit when you got pg, you only quit about 8 or so months ago... at that point, I still really wanted to smoke. Maybe give it some more time for your body to heal... I know they say it takes three days for nicotine to leave your system but as any honest-to-god smoker knows, it takes a much longer time to really really let it go.

Sorry, hon, I just can't encourage you to go back to smoking. I would never judge you for it (like I said, I've smoked on and off a lot) but if you can help it, find ANYthing else for stress relief!

Just gotta say, though, I have craved ciggies during pregnancy. How weird! I guess I will always have the occasional pang, I just try to thing of all the negative things that go with it.

Don't pick it up! It's tough.

[Hezzy]

I would never flame you for a craving. I don't smoke, although I did my share in college and for a few years after. I started late and it wasn't terribly hard for me to quit.

I just wanted to offer an incentive - check out the rates of smoking parents and SIDs. Maternal smoking, even if it's not in the same room as the baby, apparently greatly increases the rates of SIDs. I don't know if you plan to co-sleep, but if you smoke, you're not supposed to.

I don't mean to scare you, but if you're looking for a reason not to take it back up, I think that's a pretty good one. You know it's not good for you or your baby. You've already done the hard part of quitting. Stay off it mama!!

[GinaRae]

I was a smoker and I still crave it, despite quitting over 6 years ago. But it's best that I don't smoke!

I smoked for 10 years and always quit around week 8 in my pregnancies, but always went back. I was a closet smoker, so my kids didn't know.. but that also made me a total momster because I was always craving.

When I got preggo with my last and quit, my husband (2 packs a day) quit cold turkey. It helped that he would be really disappointed if I ever went back.

My health improved and I got off my inhaler. So between health, finances, and better mothering because I am not having nic fits, it's just best to stay off the smokes. I still crave them, unbelievably, but it's not a nic fit kind of craving, so it's manageable. I am just an addictive personality

[lisalulu]

I smoked for about 14yrs and then quit before I got pregnant with ds. I still smoked in bars occasionally but it wasn't a pack a day like it was. I had a really hard time adjusting after ds was born and there were a couple occasions where I bought a pack and would smoke them outside when dh was home or ds was sleeping. But something about smelling like them and just the fact of having the baby there (inside and I was out) was incentive enough for me to stop-that and the fact that they're almost $6/pack here with our taxes .

I don't have plans to go back now but it's sooo hard. There are still times when I crave them. Even my dh who has been quit for almost 10yrs gets cravings now and then.

[maisiedotes]

Wow, the SIDS thing is scary. I don't think I would be able to just have one at a bar or whatever because it would turn into "well, I had a stressful day, I deserve one" and that first one in the morning was always my favorite... I am hoping the baby will make me not even WANT a cigarette. DH would kill me if I started back up (although he is a social drinker and I always told him when he quits beer I would quit smoking...)

[mothragirl]

i miss smoking every single day. i quit when i was pregnant with and then resumed it when she was 6 months old. i quit again with this pregnancy and i'm hoping it stays that way.

[meisterfrau]

I smoked from when I was 15 until I was pg with DD. I ranged from a pack to a pack and half a day, and I quit cold turkey.

I will NEVER go back to being a smoker. It's a vow I've made to myself. The health issues, the expense, I don't want my kids to see me doing it, the smell, you name it...so many, many reasons.

However, in late pregnancy this time, I kept craving them. It was like one of those really strong food cravings I'd get from time to time. Very weird. Needless to say I didn't give in to this one like I did with my frequent Ben and Jerry's jones.

When not pregnant I do occasionally have a smoke with my one smoking friend. She lives far enough away that I only see her a couple of times a year, though, so it doesn't amount to much.

[maisiedotes]

Oddly, I keep having dreams about smoking. I am always at the same place in the dream, always asking people for JUST ONE. Then I feel so guilty when I wake up! I have had about a dozen smoking dreams... :

[lisalulu]

Originally Posted by meisterfrau

.

However, in late pregnancy this time, I kept craving them. It was like one of those really strong food cravings I'd get from time to time. Very weird.

I had awful cigarette cravings in the first trimester this time-very strange!

[Kontessa]

I will not get into my twisted history of smoking more then to say that I fear I might have to select my friends more carefully. I smoke around smokers. I Cave and then the habit starts again. It is horrible. A dear friend is a smoker and I am avoiding her. I keep asking her to quit. One of our other dear friends just found out she has lung cancer, I keep trying to remind her of this. After this baby comes it will be very hard not to smoke but I can not risk being around others that do. It pains me to say that. I have to take care of myself though and my kids and I am an addict, I can not be around it, end of story.

I think AA people have it is easy compaired to us Smoker addicts.... they seems to get more support anyway.

[Curlita]

I was a sort of half-assed smoker from 18-25 (about a pack a week), and would still have the occasional smoke up into my 30s. Weirdly, during both pregnancies I would dream that I smoked a cigarettte without thinking about it and then panic in the dream.

I don't miss smoking cigarettes at all -- at a certain point it just started to feel and taste gross. I am planning on reclaiming my other smoking habit (nudge, wink) at some point post-partum -- that I *do* miss.

My parents both smoked while we were growing up and it was a drag. Aside from whatever health risks they took with us, how gross is it to be 6 years old and smell like cigarette smoke?

I would never flame you for making a choice, but definitely think about whether or not that is something you really want for yourself. There is the vanity factor -- the smell, the taste, etc. -- and the health factor. I've lost two women friends to lung cancer in the last three years. That gives me pause even regarding my own infrequent, non-tobacco smoking habit.

[GooeyRN]

I am an ex-smoker, too. I quit June of 1998. I smoked 3/4 pack a day. I quit cold turkey. A few years later I smoked some while drinking alcholol. I haven't craved any during pregnancy, although I do sometimes crave one when not pregnant, when I am very stressed or having a drink or two.

Eta: We all know the negative effects of smoking. That does deter me from starting again. I watch people dieing from COPD and lung cancer all of the time at work. But, we all have to die from something. I know, thats a poor attitude, but I can't help it. What really stops me? The price. I would have to work so much more in order to be able to smoke. Name brand ciggy's are almost $5 a pack! That could be $35 a week! No thanks. Thats half of a car payment in a months time!

[GinaRae]

It helps that I get more chemically sensitive as I get older. Even when I was 15 I had allergy-type problems while smoking but I ignored them. Now I don't think I could ignore it!

[mothragirl]

Originally Posted by maisiedotes

Oddly, I keep having dreams about smoking. I am always at the same place in the dream, always asking people for JUST ONE. Then I feel so guilty when I wake up! I have had about a dozen smoking dreams... :

i smoke in all of my dreams.